The Right to Die

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the history of the issues concerning the "right to die" for terminally ill patients. The "right to die" is not a new issue and it has been debated for many years in the courtrooms of America. It examines how the "right to die" debate focuses on a patient's right to decide whether their life should end or when a family of a vegetative patient asks for permission to let their loved one die. It evaluates how, as the medical community becomes even more advanced, it will become important to decide the right to die issues. The author uses analytical skills to dissect and argue several right to die cases that have been presented in court in America and discusses the ethics of the practice as well as presents ideas about the future "right to die" arguments and cases.

From the Paper:

"One of the first and most famous cases in the right to die debate was the case of Karen Quinlan. Quinlan slipped into a coma and was pronounced in a permanent vegetative state. For many years she was kept alive by tubes and machines though her brain was not showing activity and her body could not fend for itself even in the most simple of tasks such as eating or breathing. Her family wanted her suffering to end not to mention that the financial burden was almost never ending for a person who was never going to recover or improve. The family took the caregivers to court to get the court to give them the right to unplug her feeding tube and allow her to die a natural death. They were refused. It was the first such case in the courts in the nation in recorded history and it received worldwide media attention."

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